


Blood in the water

by Initial_Non-Applicable_ (Top7879)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Top7879/pseuds/Initial_Non-Applicable_
Summary: Prompt:Tom Riddle dies when he tries to open the Chamber Of Secrets, the basilisk unaccepting of a half-blood as the heir. He haunts the Chamber for ages, bitter and sad, when one day, it finally opens once more and a bespeckled, dark boy comes peering down. Tom attaches himself to who he learns is Harry Potter, and as they get closer, his dead heart begins to beat once more. (Harry covertly pulls a ghost back into life through a sneaky blood ritual, courtesy of his mother’s past failed experiments)
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: distractions 💬 halloween big bang 2020





	Blood in the water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Faisalliot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faisalliot/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Faisalliot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faisalliot/pseuds/Faisalliot) in the [Distractions_Halloween_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Distractions_Halloween_2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Tom Riddle dies when he tries to open the Chamber Of Secrets, the basilisk unaccepting of a half-blood as the heir. He haunts the Chamber for ages, bitter and sad, when one day, it finally opens once more and a bespeckled, dark boy comes peering down. Tom attaches himself to who he learns is Harry Potter, and as they get closer, his dead heart begins to beat once more. (Harry covertly pulls a ghost back into life through a sneaky blood ritual, courtesy of his mother’s past failed experiments)

When Tom discovered that he was the descendant of Slytherin he was ecstatic. There, in the library he read about Salazar and how his descendants can speak to snakes _like him_ \- he knew that his time had come. Tom would no longer need to hide away from his classmates in the stacks of books, he would no longer need to pander and endure his classmates' taunting of _mudblood_ because he wasn't just a mudblood. He was special, he always knew that, but now he could prove it.

Maybe they wouldn’t believe him if he spoke snake, after all they can’t understand the words of parseltongue, for all they know Tom is just hissing. So how could he prove that he was more than just a mudblood slytherin- he needed more. He needed to show them something that even the most skeptical would have no argument. Tom needed something _substantial_ and the moment he saw the words “Slytherin’s Monster”, he knew what he needed to do.

When Tom found the tunnel to the Chamber of secrets, he was proud. Tom knew it, he knew it was meant to be. All that was left was to awaken the beast and there would be nothing in his way to climb the social later.

What Tom didn't expect was for the beast- A Basilisk- to refute his claim. For him to say "I am the heir of Slytherin" and to be responded with a hissy laugh and _"_ **_You_ ** _? The heir of Salazar Slytherin? Don't make me laugh! I can_ **_taste_ ** _the mud in your veins_ "

What Tom didn't expect was for the beast to fight against him. He didn't expect the beast to bite him.

As Tom felt the Basilisk poison rushed through his veins, he only had one thought

_I was meant to be Great_

* * *

Tom opened his eyes and he knew something was different. He _felt_ himself, he had somehow lost the weight that kept him there. Two feet on the ground- the weight of his _magic_ in his soul- he lost it.

Tom somehow knew that the weight of a body was lost and he'd never get it back

He looked around and all he could see was the dead Basilisk (at least he brought it down with him- _he was dead_ ) and a _corpse_ that could be nothing but his.

Tom screamed, why why _why why_ **_why_ ** **w h y** did this happen to **HIM**

There was nothing he could do. Tom was trapped there- with his body tethering him in the sewers- no one knew he died. All Hogwarts knew was that a boy from the Slytherin dorm disappeared one night and sometimes, you can hear horrid screams in the pipes.

* * *

  
  


_Once upon a time...._

_There was a lily flower. She grew in a wild field and was happy there, flowing in the wind. She was beautiful. So beautiful in fact, a local potter fell in love._

_He asked the flower, "Will you come to my flower bed? So you would only be by my window?"_

_The flower refused of course, she quite enjoyed where she was. She enjoyed looking at the rolling hills and pastures and told the potter so._

Harry had friends, of course he did- he was “normal”- it was expected for him to have friends to study and eat with. But no matter how deep the friendships were, Harry knew he couldn’t _really_ tell people about his family.  
  
People were appropriately pitting when they found out that his dad died when he was young, and most were distressed about the fact that his mother died not that long ago. In fact, they were so distressed that his friends wouldn’t leave him alone. They kept repeating the same lines over and over- “Do you need space?” “You can talk to us, we’re here for you!”- they couldn’t get it into their heads that he wasn’t _grieving_ . (He can’t grieve, he knew this was coming- he _expected_ it to happen sooner…. She lasted this long is just proof that she really did love Harry)

_The Potter did not give up. He came back the next day with a bowl. Each side formed and painted to look like lily petals._

_"You are so beautiful. You've inspired me- I have not quite captured your beauty, but will you come to my flower bed?"_

Harry really needed some space from it all, from all the sudden clinging and tears (he was never really sure what to do when someone cried- no one really taught him), so Harry did what any sane Hogwarts student would do- explore the castle. The ever changing staircases and hallways are confusing enough to not be able to find a person but not enough that a student can’t find their way back.  
  
While Harry was under the pretense of wandering to “discover” something, he wasn’t actually expecting to find anything he didn’t already know about. So imagine his surprise when he heard _screams_ from the old pipes that run next to the walls.

_The flower said no. She quite enjoyed being in direct sunlight- always warm and never cold and when the night came she enjoyed the beauty of the moon. She told the potter so. The potter did not give up. He came back the next day with a cup. Each side formed and painted to look like lily petals._

_"You are so beautiful. You've inspired me- I have not quite captured your beauty, but will you come to my flower bed?"_

* * *

Tom doesn’t know how long he’s been here- **trapped here** \- he doesn’t know how long he’s been **dead** but that doesn’t stop him from screaming for the hundredth. There’s something so frustrating about it all, he’s tried and tried to leave- looked at that wall for the hundredth time for a doorway, tried to exit through the tunnel he arrived in- but there’s _something_ stopping him from leaving, some sort of wall that stops him from actually crossing the threshold into any other parts if the castle.  
  
All Tom can do is **wait** for something to change- for _someone_ to find him- but he’s never been patient. He’s at his wits end here, his ambitions have not yet died even if his body has but he’s getting _so close_ to just,,, stopping. Tom doesn’t know what stopping would entail- he’s always lived a life of aiming for _more_ and being dead didn’t change that. He is meant for more than just existing in some forgotten place- he can feel it in his magic. (His soul and magic is all he has left- and he would give up his soul for magic in a heartbeat)  
  
This is the moment new light spills in from the entrance.  
  


_The lily flower said no. She quite enjoyed being in the field, where she made friends with the grass, bees, and fellow flowers. She told the potter so._

_The potter did not give up. He came back the next day with a pot. This time, it was not formed and painted like a lily- but there were rolling hills, a sun bright in the sky, grass, bugs, flowers and a moon._

_"You are so beautiful. You've inspired me- I can not capture your beauty but maybe I can capture what you enjoy about being here. Will you come to my flower bed, I will try my best for you to feel at home?"_

_The lily flower said yes.  
  
_

* * *

_  
_  
There is a reason why Harry’s excuse worked. There is a reason why people don’t look at him strangely when he says he plans to explore the castle. Harry has always been curious. He has always looked in every new crook and cranny- since the first day at Hogwarts he’s been wandering the halls looking for something _new._ _  
_  
And because he’s always been curious, because he’s always looked, Harry had thought at some point when he stopped finding new doors, he saw almost all there is to see. Now he hears something he’s never heard before- an unfamiliar _voice._ He can’t help but think Hogwarts is giving him a gift, a reward for all he has to deal with.  
  
It’s easy for him to follow the pipes down the corridor, it’s easy for him to walk into the girls bathroom and _listen_ , It’s easy for him to copy this hissing- after so much spent with his mother’s snakes it _should_ be easy- It's easy for him to just forget about the rest of the world and revel in the joy of finding something undiscovered by him before.  
  
There’s only one thing Harry can do- there’s only one way to _go-_ _**down**._

_She was moved to the flower bed by the potters window, it took awhile for her to get used to such a strange and different place. But the potter kept to his word and everyday he made new pots, bowls, cups, and the like and painted the rolling hills, sun and moon, flowers and bugs so the lily felt at home._

_But good things don't always last forever._


End file.
